Decision making board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A decision making game wherein each participant is supplied with a plurality of equal value time, energy and money cards which must be spent or earned according to plays printed on a plurality of indicia bearing spaces disposed on a game board which the participants traverse during the game. Selected of the indicia bearing spaces require the participants to select a card from a plurality of decision cards having indicia thereon which generally provide for the expenditure or receipt of some of the time, money and energy cards. Equal value bonus cards are awarded when the participants draw selected of the decision cards or land on selected of the indicia bearing spaces while traversing the game board. The winner of the game is determined by a participant collecting a specified number of bonus cards without a corresponding required expenditure of all his time, money or energy cards.

United States Patent 1191 Kelley A 1 June 5, 1973 [54] DECISION MAKING BOARD GAME APPARATUS Karen A. Kelley, 8215 Fernhill Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44129 1221 Filed: Feb. 22, 1971 21 Appl.No.: 117,317

[76] Inventor:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,128,608 8/1938 Goertemiller ..273/134 C 3,367,662 2/1968 Charles et a1 ..273/134 AD 3,565,437 2/1971 Mitchell ..273/134 AD 3,582,080 6/1971 Schick ....273/134 AD Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe Attorney-Meyer, Tilberry & Body [57] ABSTRACT A decision making game wherein each participant is supplied with a plurality of equal value time, energy and money cards which must be spent or earned according to plays printed on a plurality of indicia bearing spaces disposed on a game board which the participants traverse during the game. Selected of the indicia bearing spaces require the participants to select a card from a plurality of decision cards having indicia thereon which generally provide for the expenditure or receipt of some of the time, money and energy cards. Equal value bonus cards are awarded when the participants draw selected of the decision cards or land on selected of the indicia bearing spaces while traversing the game board. The winner of the game is determined by a participant collecting a specified number of bonus cards without a corresponding required expenditure of all his time, money or energy cards.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUH 5 I973 I |T| ME [ENERGY] IMONEY] DEC l-SION YOUR o|sH"' WASHER ARRIVED mm: ONE

TIME AND ONE BONUS K CARD) You CAN TAKE JOHNNY SHOPPING- WITH YOU (FORFEIT ONE ENERGY CARD) OR GET A BABYSITTER (FORFEIT TWO MONEY CARDS) Fig 2.

IT'S A BOY! (FORFEIT ONE 2. MONEY CARD) INVENTOR.

KAREN A. KELLEY ATT RN E YS DECISION MAKING BOARD GAME APPARATUS This application pertains to the art of recreational devices and more particularly to a new game.

The invention is particularly applicable to a new type of decision making card game and will be described with particular reference thereto; however, it will be appreciated that the invention has broader application for use in other games.

Previous games quite often utilized a game board with a plurality of player elements which were moved therearound according to a number determined by, for example, rolling dice or by rotating a spinner. Interrelationships between the players themselves were often included, such as, for example, by requiring a player to go back and start over or lose a turn if he reached a certain area on the game board or was passed by another player. However, this type of game did not involve any decision making steps so as to test or develop the individual participants ability to make a decision from a plurality of available alternatives.

One type of decision making game which has been devised requires the participants to make blind decisions based on the relative positions of players on a game board. The only decisions which were actually made were what players to move and when to move them, the results or ramifications of the decisions not being known until after a move had been made. In effect, this type of game presented no real decision making requirements to the participants in order to test or develop their decision making skills.

Other games which had been devised to require decision making steps by the participants were extremely complicated so as to often require difficult calculations as well as an extended time period for playing one complete game. This type of game had the serious drawbacks of being limited to those participants who could readily understand and make the required decisions and required a high degree of concentration in order to effectively participate in the game. Because of these drawbacks, this type of game was not generally playable by both children and adults, and oftentimes was such a chore to play that no enjoyment was derived by the participants.

The present invention provides a new and improved decision making game which overcomes all of the above referred to problems, and others, and provides a new decision making game which is simple, can be played and enjoyed by both children and adults, and which does not require extended playing time to complete one full game. Also, there is provided a new decision making game which draws from varied real life everyday decision making situations.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a new decision making game involving a plurality of decision making alternatives which game includes a game board having a plurality of instruction defining stations thereon. A plurality of sets of different value identifying units or resources, a set of alternative decision defining units keyed to the required expenditure of each of the sets of value identifying units, and

a set of bonus or awards units keyed to selected of the instruction defining and decision defining units are provided to establish boundaries for the decision making alternatives. The decision defining units actually provide the required decisions, none of which are necessarily correct or incorrect. The decisions merely must be based on a consideration of the relative amounts of resources a participant has on hand as the loss of all of one of a participant's resources eliminates him from the game. An awareness is therefore made that when a participant successfully manages his resources, he will be able to effectively meet the decision making situations presented by the decision units drawn during the game. Bonus units are received by randomly choosing selected of the decision units and by landing on selected of the instruction defining stations during the game play. Means are also provided for controlling progress of the game and for determining increments of progress of the participants along the game board. The object of the game is to collect awards while not losing all of an one resource.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the plurality of sets of value identifying units comprise three decks of cards, each unit in each set being identical to the other units in the same set and being identified as a time deck, an energy deck, and a money deck. The decision defining units comprise a deck of cards having thereon alternative decisional relationships between the time, energy and money decks and the set of awards comprises a deck of award cards, each card of which is identical to the others.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the decisional relationships appearing on the cards comprising the deck of decision defining units may be varied to present more complex decisions or varied to present decisions in different life environments.

The principal object of the subject invention is the provision of a new and improved decision making game.

Another object of the subject invention is a provision of a new and improved decision making game which may be utilized as an educational tool which requires thought, concentration and decision making processes to achieve an established goal.

Another object of the subject invention is the provision of a new and improved decision making game which has a format adaptable to any academic, vocational, profession or interest area.

Yet another object of the subject invention is the provision of a new and improved decision making game which may be played and enjoyed by children and adults.

Still another object of the subject invention is the provision of a new and improved decision making game which may have different levels of complexity.

The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangements of parts, a preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the game board used in playing the subject game;

FIG. 1A is an enlarged view of one of the instruction defining stations on the game board shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a second instruction defining station included on the game board shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 1C is an enlarged view of yet another instruction defining station on the game board shown in FIG. I; and,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a decision making card used in playing the subject game.

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention only and not for purposes of limiting same, the FIGURES show a game board A having card deck locating areas B thereon.

More specifically, game board A is comprised of a thin flat member generally designated which may be constructed from, for example, cardboard. Member 10 is rectangular in peripheral outline and includes outside edges 12,14,16 and 18 and a game board face 20 on one side thereof. The member further includes a fold area 22 generally dividing the member into two equal halves to permit it to be folded together both for storage purposes and for the protection of game board face 20 when it is not in use.

Spaced around the face area adjacent edges 12,14,16 and 18 are a plurality of instruction defining stations 30. The number of stations may be varied, however, in the preferred embodiment, there are five along each edge plus two at each corner for a total of 28 such stations. A game start station 32 is located in one corner of the game board face to show where the game is to begin. Spaced in the center portion of game board face 20 are a plurality of card deck positioning areas 34,36,38,40 and 42. The specific arrangement of these areas is not important and the arrangement shown in the drawings is merely exemplary. A deck of bonus or award cards is placed in area 34, a deck of decision cards is placed in area 36, a deck of time cards is placed in area 38, a deck of energy cards is placed in area 40 and a deck of money cards is placed in area 42. As the game simulates decisions which must be made in real life situations, the time, energy and money decks represent the basic resources which a person may utilize in overcoming these situations. For example,'if a person must have his lawn mowed, he can generally either do it himself, using time and energy, or hire someone to do it for him, using money. The deck of decision cards presents a plurality of decisions which must be made by utilizing the available time, energy and money cards. The bonus cards are awarded by the participants randomly choosing selected of the decision cards and by landing on selected of instruction defining stations 30 during game play.

More specifically, each bonus, time, energy and money card deck comprises a plurality of cards out from, for example, cardboard and having those words printed thereon. Each card represents one unit of either time, energy or money or one unit of a bonus with none of the cards in each deck being more valuable than any of the other cards in the same deck. Each card of the decision card deck may also be made from the same material as the time, energy, money and bonus cards and have printed on one side thereof the particular alternatives for spending various combinations of the time, energy or money cards. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cards of the decision card deck are slightly larger than the cards of the other decks. The type of decision presented is more fully hereinbelow described with reference to playing the game.

To play the game, each participant places a participant positioning locator 44 on game start station 32. For convenience purposes, only one of these locators is shown in the drawings, it being understood that the number of these locators is equal to the number of participants in the game. Each lo'cator 44 may be comprised of anything sufficient to mark the participant positions along the game board on instruction defining stations 30 and in the preferred embodiment of the invention, small figurines are used. In the ensuing description for playing the game, description will be made of only one participant, it being understood that the other participants will follow the same steps unless otherwise noted.

First, each participant is dealt ten time, energy, and money cards, since theoretically every healthy human has the same amount of energy, every human has the same amount of time, and for game purposes, every player initially receives the sameamount of money. The extra cards from each of these decks are placed in positioning areas 38,40 and 42 respectively. The bonus and decision cards are placed in positioning areas 34,36 respectively,- the decision cards being placed face down so that the decisional alternatives of the top cards may not be viewed by the participants. The participant then rolls a die one time and receives that many additional money cards. These money cards are provided to account for the wide scope of salaries or wages in each humans profession or vocation. It will be appreciated that as an alternative to a die, a spinner of the type commonly employed in chance games could be' utilized.

The participant then again rolls the die and advances in a counterclockwise direction in the view of FIG. 1 from start area 32 along instruction defining stations 30. Suppose, for example, when the participant rolls the die it comes up with the number 5. The participant would move the participant position locator 44 to the fifth space and then read aloud the directions thereon. An example of these directions for this fifth space is shown in the exploded view of FIG. 1A. In FIG. 1A, the instructions 50 on instruction defining station 30 read:

ITS A BOY! (FORFEIT ONE TIME, ENERGY & MONEY CARD)". The participant would, in accordance with the instructions, place one of his time, en-

ergy and money cards back on their respective card deck positioning areas 38,40 and 42. Next, another participant would take his first turn following the steps and instructions as hereinabove described.

At the participants next turn, he would again roll the die and assuming it this time came up with the number 4, he would move his participant position locator 44 four spaces where he would land on instruction defining station 30 shown in the exploded view of FIG. 1B. In FIG. 1B, the instruction defining station has specific instructions 52 thereon which state:

YOUR DISHWASHER ARRIVED (TAKE ONE TIME AND ONE BONUS CARD). The participant then removes one bonus card from area 34 and one time card from area 38 to add to his personal supply. The other participants then take their turns accordingly.

For the purpose of demonstrating the use of the decision cards, assume that on the third turn the participant rolls the die so it comes up showing a number three and accordingly advances locator 44 three spaces and lands on the instruction defining station 30 shown by exploded view FIG. 1C. This particular area includes instructions 54 entitled Decision. This means that the participant must draw the top decision card from area 36 which presents a decision making situation. FIG. 2 shows an .example of such a card having instructions 60 thereon which read:

YOU CAN TAKE JOHNNY SHOPPING WITH YOU (FORFEIT ONE ENERGY CARD) OR GET A BABY SITTER (FORFEIT TWO MONEY CARDS). Here the participant must make a decision as to which of his cards to forfeit. This decision is based upon the number of individual time, energy and money cards he has in order that a balance may be kept between them. Depending on his decision, he forfeits the required card or cards by placing them on their respective positioning areas on game board face 20. The number of decision instruction defining stations included on the game board may vary, however, in the preferred embodiment there are eight randomly located stations 30.

The above described steps are repeated by the participants as they move their locators 44 continuously around the board until one participant collects ten bonus cards. At this time, the game has officially ended. However, during play, if a participant should use all of his time, energy or money cards, he is temporarily out of the game and can no longer play. He must wait until the end of the game to total his points. As there is a limit to the amount of time, energy and money each participant will have, each participant must be careful so as to not respond to decisions by impulse only, but rather, to use careful thought so as not to be out of the game before it is officially over.

Once the game has officially ended, points are awarded for the number of time, energy, money and bonus cards each participant has. In the preferred embodiment of the game, each bonus card is worth two points and each time, energy and money card is worth one point. As will readily be seen, the object of the game is to collect as many bonus cards as possible and to manage ones resources so as not to run out of time, energy or money cards.

The instruction defining stations and decision cards may be correlated to any real life situation, such as for example the preferred embodiment where a home environment is utilized. A work environment or an educational environment could also be used in order to add variety and interest for the game participants. Further, the game may be made more challenging by altering the difficulty and complexity of the decision cards such that it is entirely possible to have different levels of the game by retaining the original game board and pieces tion to include all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Having thus described my invention, I now claim:

1. A game apparatus involving a plurality of decision making alternatives, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of time cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing a time resource; a plurality of energy cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing an energy resource; a plurality of money cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing a money resource; a plurality of bonus cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing a bonus unit; a plurality of decision cards including indicia representing alternative choices to the game participants and which require the making of a decision as to the expenditure of their time, energy, and money cards in order to perform the command tasks thereon, selected of said decision cards having indicia calling for the receipt of a bonus card; a game board including a continuous playing path divided into a plurality of spaces each bearing indicia representing a play to be made and over which game members may be selectively moved by the game participants so as to occupy said spaces during game play, some of said play indicia providing instructions for the receipt or expenditure of available of said time, energy and money resource cards and for the receipt of a bonus card, selected of said play indicia providing instructions for the receipt of a decision card, said game board further including indicia for locating said time, energy, money, bonus and decision cards thereon during game play; and, means for randomly determining the amount of movement of the game members along the playing path during game play. 

1. A game apparatus involving a plurality of decision making alternatives, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of time cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing a time resource; a plurality of energy cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing an energy resource; a plurality of money cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing a money resource; a plurality of bonus cards each including the same indicia thereon for representing a bonus unit; a plurality of decision cards including indicia representing alternative choices to the game participants and which require the making of a decision as to the expenditure of their time, energy, and money cards in order to perform the command tasks thereon, selected of said decision cards having indicia calling for the receipt of a bonus card; a game board including a continuous playing path divided into a plurality of spaces each bearing indicia representing a play to be made and over which game members may be selectively moved by the game participants so as to occupy said spaces during game play, some of said play indicia providing instructions for the receipt or expenditure of available of said time, energy and money resource cards and for the receipt of a bonus card, selected of said play indicia providing instructions for the receipt of a decision card, said game board further including indicia for locating said time, energy, money, bonus and decision cards thereon during game play; and, means for randomly determining the amount of movement of the game members along the playing path during game play. 